HB1050 – Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from hydrofluorocarbons.
Prime Sponsor – Representative Fitzgibbon (D; 34th District; SW Seattle & Vashon Island)
Current status –
In the House – Passed
Had a hearing in the House Committee on Environment and Energy January 15th. Replaced by a substitute, amended in a couple of minor ways, and passed out of committee January 26th. Had a hearing in Appropriations February 8th; replaced by a 2nd substitute and voted out February 11th. Referred to Rules February 15th. Passed out of Rules, amended on the floor, and passed by the House February 23rd. The House concurred in the Senate’s amendments April 12th.

In the Senate – Passed
Referred to the Committee on Environment, Energy and Technology. Had a hearing March 16th; replaced by a striker and voted out of committee March 23rd. Referred to Ways and Means, and had a hearing March 30th. Amended, passed out of committee, and referred to Rules April 2nd. Passed by the Senate April 7th, and returned to the House for consideration of concurrence.
Next step would be – To the Governor.
Legislative tracking page for the bill.

Comments –
The bill included an amendment to the current law on utilities’ conservation requirements saying utilities had to “consider the nonenergy impacts associated with the generation of electricity as well as from other sources, including refrigerants” in assessing conservation, but that vague and sweeping language has been dropped in the substitute.

Summary –
Ways and Means Amendment –
This required the Building Code Council to solicit input from stakeholder organizations and experts on potential low global warming  substitutes and  equipment before adopting rules about refrigeration or air conditioning systems that use them.

Senate Environment, Energy and Technology Striker –
It made a number of minor technical and procedural changes, which are summarized at the end of it.

Substitute –
There’s a summary by staff of the changes at the beginning of the substitute, and there’s a summary by staff of the changes made by the second substitute at the beginning of that. The House made one minor amendment on the floor, and passed one joke amendment. (They’re at the bottom of the bill page.)

Original bill –
The bill expands the provisions of the 2019 legislation limiting the uses of hydrofluorocarbons (HB1112). It authorizes setting a limit on the global warming potential of any substitute for the chlorofluorocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, and other Class I and Class II chemicals regulated under the Federal Ozone Protection Act that’s used as a refrigerant, and authorizes regulating their use in stationary air conditioning in steps over time. (The findings say these are conditional, but I don’t think the language of Section 8 of the bill actually says that.) It does authorize the Department of Ecology to regulate the use of refrigerants in light duty vehicles, conditional on another state’s doing that, and subject to the EPA’s rules on the acceptable conditions for using various substitutes.

The bill requires Ecology to establish a refrigerant management program to lower the emissions from those  to the levels of achievable superior performance established for the EPA’s voluntary greenchill program. It requires operators of equipment with more than 50 pounds of charging capacity to register it with the department. (Larger equipment using a refrigerant that is not a Class I or II chemical, and has a global warming potential less than 150 is also exempt.) Owners of registered equipment must inspect them for leaks periodically and after recharging them, as well as providing leak rate documentation to prospective purchasers. The Department is to establish requirements for reporting on systems, and for repairing leaks; it may establish regulations for servicing them, a policy for applying for exemptions, and a system for collecting fees to cover the costs of the program.

The bill extends the current rules for reducing emissions from ozone-depleting substances to cover these substitutes. (Those include requiring recovering them when servicing, repairing, or disposing of various cooling equipment, and prohibiting their use in containers for consumers to use in recharging appliances or vehicle air conditioning systems.) The bill directs the state building code council to adopt codes allowing the maximum use of substitutes with lower global warming potentials, and intended to minimize leakage.  It establishes a state procurement preference for recycled refrigerants.

It also says that utilities “must consider” the nonenergy impacts associated with the generation of electricity as well as from other sources, including refrigerants, in assessing the cost-effective, reliable, and feasible energy conservation they’re legally required to pursue.

The bill requires the Department to make recommendations on the end-of-life management and disposal of refrigerants to the Legislature by December 1st 2021, after soliciting feedback from potentially impacted parties and the public. These must include the legal and financial obligations of manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers, equipment owner-operators and service technicians to support or participate in the program; a funding mechanism for refrigerant recovery and disposal activities including a financial incentive for the recovery and emission-reducing management of refrigerants; and performance goals and operational standards for activities to collect, transport, and recycle, reuse, or dispose of refrigerants.

Details –
The bill doesn’t cover chillers. It allows manufacturers to disclose a product’s compliance with the regulations as an alternative to identifying the substances used in labels on products and equipment. It extends the current penalty system for violations of the air pollution standards to include violations of the bill’s requirements.